Treasury

Energy tax update

Baroness Penn: My honourable friend the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury (Gareth Davies) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.The Government introduced the Energy (Oil and Gas) Profits Levy (EPL) in May 2022 to tax the temporary extraordinary profits of oil and gas companies, and to help fund vital support for millions of people facing rising bills, including the Energy Price Guarantee and additional support for those most in need. With this levy in place, the UK has a tax rate of 75% on profits from oil and gas production, which is expected to raise around £50 billion between 2022/23 and 2027/28. This is one of the highest tax rates for oil and gas production globally.While ensuring that oil and gas companies pay their fair share, it is also important that the Government supports jobs, supply chains and the country’s energy security. A faster decline in domestic production would mean importing more oil and gas at greater expense and potentially resulting in additional emissions. This is why today, the Government will give operators and lenders the confidence they need to keep investing in the UK’s domestic energy reserves, whilst being clear that while prices remain high, the government will continue to tax extraordinary profits.Through the introduction of an Energy Security Investment Mechanism, the Government will ensure that the EPL is disapplied if oil and gas prices fall to historically normal levels for a sustained period. The Energy Security Investment Mechanism will only be activated when prices consistently meet or fall below a level typically associated with pre-crisis household energy bills. The mechanism will use a 20-year historic average to the end of 2022 so that it is set at $71.40 per barrel of oil and £0.54 per therm of gas. Government will require average prices to meet or fall below the level of both price thresholds for two successive quarters before disapplying the EPL and will set out further details on how this will work in due course. This mechanism is not expected to impact receipts from the Energy Profits Levy, based on current market forecasts.In the 2022 Autumn Statement, the Chancellor announced a review into the long-term fiscal regime for North Sea oil and gas to ensure the regime delivers predictability and certainty, supporting investment, jobs and the country’s energy security. The Government has published Terms of Reference for this review, setting out its scope and objectives. The review will focus on how the fiscal regime can support the country’s energy security while also realising our net-zero commitments in the medium and long term.In addition, the review will explore how the fiscal regime should respond to any future price shocks, ensuring the country retains a fair return in exchange for the use of its resources in a high-price environment.The full terms of reference can be found on the GOV.UK website:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/review-of-the-oil-and-gas-fiscal-regime-terms-of-reference

Home Office

Disregards and pardons scheme

Lord Sharpe of Epsom: My hon Friend the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Safeguarding (Sarah Dines) has today made the following Written Ministerial Statement:I am pleased to announce that the Government is today bringing into force sections 194 and 195 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 which will extend the scope of the Government’s disregards and pardons scheme. This is a significant step forward in addressing the wrongs of the past when LGBT people were criminalised for their sexuality in civilian life and while serving in the Armed Forces. The original Scheme was established in 2012 to enable men to apply to have certain homosexual offences for consensual sex removed from their records. This extension to the Scheme will widen the scope to include any repealed or abolished offence that was used to criminalise same-sex sexual activity. The Scheme will continue to apply to both civilian and service offences and conditions will remain in place to ensure that only those circumstances befitting of a disregard will be removed from the record. Individuals will be able to apply to the scheme using an application form which has been published today on Gov.uk, along with accompanying guidance.

Ministry of Justice

Judicial Conduct Investigations Office Annual Report 2021–2022

Lord Bellamy: My Right Honourable Friend, the Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor, has made the following Written Ministerial Statement:“With the concurrence of the Lord Chief Justice, I will today publish the sixteenth annual report of the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office (JCIO).The JCIO supports the Lord Chief Justice and the Lord Chancellor in our joint statutory responsibility for judicial discipline.The judiciary comprises approximately 22,000 individuals serving across a range of jurisdictions. Over the past year, the JCIO received 1,817 complaints against judicial office-holders. 33 investigations resulted in disciplinary action.I have placed copies of the report in the libraries of both Houses, the Vote Office and the Printed Paper Office.Copies are also available online at: https://www.complaints.judicialconduct.gov.uk/reportsandpublications/”